Central resource

In a report from the Audit Scotland, who are usually a well informed and rational bunch, there is a proposal for a central resource to get over project issues in Scottish central government systems development. The report “Managing ICT contracts: An audit of three public sector programmes” (PDF, 25 pages, 856 Kb + other options) looked at three programmes and found issues with their management, along with the Gateway system also used by the English government. The report stresses the need to ensure the implementation of the opportunities from the McClelland Report (reported here in March 2012 under “Scotland the Brave“) and the resultant action plan. One of the programmes has been cancelled at significant cost, a further contract has been given a years notice, so there are obviously issues and although the public bodies claim benefits they are unable to quantify them – how many more times will money be wasted without proper benefits realization and effective programme management being used?

In general the Auditor General advises “The Scottish Government needs to address these weaknesses and strengthen its strategic oversight of ICT investment to ensure the public sector delivers programmes that improve public services and provide value for money.”

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About me

The blogger is Mick Phythian, a Research Associate at De Montfort University in Leicester, U.K. and former ICT Manager at Ryedale District Council in North Yorkshire, England. He was also a founder member of the Local CIO Council and regional Chair of Socitm.

Any opinions expressed on this weblog are purely those of the author.

He is not the Great Emancipator! The Great Emancipator was President Abraham Lincoln. The blog is so-called because some people perceive e-government, transformational government or, heaven forbid, government to be the emancipator of us all...